Method of producing activated carbonaceous substances and the product of the method



May 17 1927. 1,629,237

. E. R. SUTCLIFFE METHOD OF PRODUCING ACTIVATED CARBONACEOUS SUBSTANCES AND THE PRODUCT OF THE METHOD Filed Jan." 27. 1920 Inv enfor- Attorney.

it the capacity of absorbing gases.

Patented May 17,- 1927.

' UNI-TED STAT as PATENT. oFFice.

Enema aousn sn'romrrn'or LEIGH, ENGLAND.

Manson or rnomrome liorrvarnn oaanonacnons suns'rancns AND THE rnonuc'r or'rnnmnrrnon. f

Application filed January 27, 1920, Serial No. 354,468, and in Great Britain feliruary 1, 1918.

This invention relates to a method of producing so called activated carbonaceous substances, and to the product of the method. It is known to subject charcoal to the action of steam whereby there is imparted to The charcoal thus treated may be used as a gas filtering medium in gas masks intended for use in warfare or in mines. jects of the invention is to produce similar carbonaceous material having a relatively great activity or capacity of absorption, by simple means involving economy in manufacture, and by the employment of coal or carbonaceous substances similar; to coal.

, Of the methods employed'for activating charcoal that which it is preferred to use in carrying out the present invention is that which is Well known involving the admission of steam to the charcoal heated to about 1000 C. that is to say under conditions in which the water gas reaction takes place and carbon mon-oxide and hydrogen are pro-' duced. It will thus be understood that by activating or activated is meant a known treatment applied to charcoal as described, separate and distinct from the process of distillation whereby the carbonaceous material as with charcoal has imparted to it-a capacity for absorbing gases or similar properties not possessed by it before or without this treatment.

i The invention is in partbased upon the methods of producing fuel according to prior and existing patents, in which carbonaceous substances of the character of coal are re-.

, duced to afinely divided condition, and in of absorbing comprises such a method of producing car-- that condition compressed without a binder to produce blocks which are coked, whereby a coked fuel is produced having characteristics distinct and different from ordinary coke. One of the objects of the present in-- vention it will be understood is to utilize coal in a finely divided condition-as thestarting raw material, the coal being compressed into blocks which arethen coked, andactivated, to impart to the material the capacity gases. The invention broadly bonaceous substances having gas absorbing properties.

According to the invention I reduce coal,

1 such as bituminous or semi-bituminous coal to a substantially uniform condition of extreme fineness, such as represented by the One of the ob-,

It will be understood activated coke previously produced accordi-ng to the invention. The mixture which is uniformly and intimately eifected is then compressedinto blocks for example according to the methoddescribed in the specification of the prior Patent No. 1,267,711 of 1918, and the blocks produced are coked. As described in the Specification of the said prior patent, blocks maybe produced from the finely divided material by compression withina tapered mould in which the block or briquet on production is moved during the compression to permit of its laterally ex panding in a larger part of the mould or in the interval between successive compressions.

The coked material may advantageously then be crushed or broken down to 1 inch mesh,and fines may be eliminated. The material whether crushed or broken downornot is then activated.

It will be understood that the mixture and proportions are indicated byway of example and no limitation is made thereto;

According to the invention the coked material produced is activated within a retort which is internally heated, air or steam, or both air and steam being admitted into the retort with the heating gas 'for example 1000 0., so as to effect partial combusti on, or the partial utilization of the carbone in the'material treated, so as to produce water gas- The ent may be continued according to the capacity of absorption desired. By Such means the material has imparted to it thc capacity of absorbing gases.

According to the invention vertical retorts are advantageously employed for thistreatment, in and through. which the coked material is continuously fed, and from which it is continuously discharged, activated. The rate of feed may for example, in the use of a small retort be about 8 lbs. per hour, while sents a diagrammatic section of a vertical rethe rate of discharge, takingaccount of the proportion of carbon lost in the treatment or utilized in partial combustion or in the manufacture of water gas, may for example be about 6 lb. per hour.

Apparatus for elfectin'g the activation may be of the type described in the specification of the prior application Serial No. 234,277

dated the 13th May, 1918, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing which repretort in which the treatment may be effected by internal heating.

A series of such vertical retorts a may be provided with alternateregenerators 0, 0

which latter may be alternately heated by the combustion of gas and air (part of the make of gas in the coking plant or retorts for this purpose being advantageously used), and have gas (which may also be part of the make of gas from the coking plant or retorts) passed through the regenerators for being heated before circulation as the heating medium through the retorts for activating the charge therein, the gas being passed into the regenerators through a nozzle 9. The regenerators 0 c are heated to a tem erature for example of 1200 C.

and the eating gas is maintained for exam 1e at a temperature of 1000 C. p

y providing a number of 'regenerators alternately with a number of retorts, hot gas spective retorts. p

The regenerators a employed may be of any suitable construction. They may. be vertically disposed in positions intermediate of the retorts a, and they are provided of such capacity as to ensure, that, all the retorts of the battery or series may be ke t supplied with heated gas for continuous y may be continuously passed through the reheating the charge therein, adjacent regenerators being advantageously alternately' heated, while the gas used as the heating medium for circulating through the retorts, 1s belng heated in others previously heated.

- When heating the regenerator or blast stove 0 or c the valve or damper closing communlcation withthe lower end of the middle or main part of the retort a is closed and gas and air admitted to the lower part of. the blast stove through the flue z'. The

flue f at the upper end of the blast stove has its outlet valve 7' open and the valve h between the upper part of the blast stove and the retort is closed,so that thus the combustion gases pass upwardly and through the -outlet flue. After one blast stove has been heated the valves of the respective blast stove are reversed and cold as is then injected into the upper art' of t e heated blast stove, while the coo ed blast stove is then ,heated, the alternate heating of the respective blast stoves taking plate at suitable pe- The upper part of the retort a is advantageously diverted to one side as at is, and at that side the carbonaceous material is delivered whereby its slides or falls down i ed, and this inclined surface may form part of a shoot'by which the charge may be directedinto amovable receptacle into which the-residue may, periodically be discharged. At the end ofithis inclined surface a hinged plate n may be provided adapted to be operatedfrom the outside of the shoot, so that it may be brought from a position in which it lies at right anglestwith the; inclined surface and forms a stop to hold the charge, to a position inwhich it depends vertically from the lower edge of the inclined surface, f

into the receptacle.

' so that the charge that lies upon the inclined surface may thus, being unsupported, fall It will thus be understood that the regen erators or blast stoves 0, c are used in a1ter-.

nate periods, one of them being used for the combustion of gas'and air for heating the regenerator or blast stove while in the. other gas from the retort a is circulated. Thus when the blast stove a is being heated a j damper or valve closes the port communicat ing with the lower part of the retort a, the

r a i I corresponding valve 7 1s 0 en and the correspondlng valve h is close anda supply of gas and air is admitted throu h the correfor heating sponding flue iand is ignite the brickwork, while in the regenerator or blast stove 0 the corresponding valve j is closed and the corresponding valveh is open, and the damper is withdrawn to open communication in the lower part of the retort a with the lower part of the regenerator or blast stove c and gas is admitted through the nozzle 9 for causing a'circulation of gas from the upper part of the retort a down- 1 wardly through the re enerator or blast stove 0*,then upwardly t rough theretort a continually. On the regenerator or blast stove a cooling down and the regenerator or blast stove a beingheated, the valves are reyersed to permit of the regenerator or blast stove 0 being heated and the regenerator or blast stove 0 being used for the circulationgas so that thus heated gas eit or from the regenerator or blast stove a or 0 passes withthrough it of the gas from the retort in the manner described for impartin heat to the out substantial interruption through the charge in the retort a and thus the carbonization of the charge is continuously ef- -fected as the charge is withdrawn through the shoot m and is charged at the inlet k. Vertical regenerators having the usual re generator brickwork maynbe employed, but any suitable means of producing heated gas for circulation through the charge in the retorts may be employed.

The retorts may in part be heated externally in known manner.

The product of the invention may be used for various purposes, that is to say it may be used for the filtration of fluids and to act by absorption or catal sis. Furthermore the product may be use for the purposes for which treated charcoal has been employed. The product may for example be used for the absorption of methane and hydrocarbons from coal gas with a view to' roduce a gas rich in hydrogen or it may he used for the absor tion of benzol and other hydrocarbons an purpose of absorbing moisture from air and after being reduced to a finely divided condition it may be used for manure and for the improvement of the soil.

I claim:

1. A method of producing an activated coke consisting in reducing coal to a substantially-uniform condition of fineness, then compressing the coal into blocks without the of ammonia. The product may furthermore be used for the addition of any binder and without the addition of any non-carbonaceous substance, to produce a stone-like block, then coking the block and then activating it, substantially as described.

2. A method of producing an activated coke'consisting in reducing coal to a substantially uniform condition of extreme fineness, admixing therewith a roportion of alread activated coke in a condit1on,'compressing the mixture to produce blocks, coking the blocks for the production of a residue, and then activating this residue.

A new article of manufacture being an activated coke that is solid, coherent, homogeneous and dense, and which coke has a re-constituted cellular structure distinct from the raw coal from which it was produced and contains a very large number of cells per unit of mass, and thus has a high gas absorbent capacity, substantially as described.

4. In a method of producing an activated v coke as specified'in claim 1 the step of adding to the coal in a substantially uniform condition of extreme fineness before compression to produce the block, a proportion of another carbonaceous substance also in finely divided condition, which substance is adapted to develop the porosity of the block oncoking it, substantially as described.

EDGAR ROUSE suromrrn.

nely divided 

